Walgreens to pay up to $350 million in U.S. opioid settlement
[April 22, 2025]
By JAIMIE DING
Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $350 million in a settlement with the
U.S. Department of Justice, who accused the pharmacy of illegally
filling millions of prescriptions in the last decade for opioids and
other controlled substances.
The nationwide drugstore chain must pay the government at least $300
million and will owe another $50 million if the company is sold, merged,
or transferred before 2032, according to the settlement reached last
Friday.
The government’s complaint, filed in January in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Walgreens knowingly
filled millions of illegal prescriptions for controlled substances
between August 2012 and March 2023. These include prescriptions for
excessive opioids and prescriptions filled significantly early.
“We strongly disagree with the government’s legal theory and admit no
liability,” Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said in a statement.
“This resolution allows us to close all opioid related litigation with
federal, state, and local governments and provides us with favorable
terms from a cashflow perspective while we focus on our turnaround
strategy.”
Amid slumping store visits and shrinking market share, Walgreens
announced it was closing 1,200 stores around the country last October.
Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2023 as it was also dealing
with losses and opioid lawsuit settlements. The U.S. Department of
Justice filed a similar lawsuit against CVS in December.
The complaint says Walgreens pharmacists filled these prescriptions
despite clear red flags that the prescriptions were highly likely to be
invalid, and the company pressured its pharmacists to fill them quickly.
The government alleges Walgreen's compliance officials ignored
“substantial evidence” that its stores were filling unlawful
prescriptions and withheld important information on opioid prescribers
from its pharmacists.
Walgreens then allegedly sought payment for many of the invalid
prescriptions through Medicare and other federal healthcare programs in
violation of the False Claims Act, according to the government.
The U.S. Justice Department has moved to dismiss its complaint in light
of Friday's settlement.
[to top of second column]
|
A Walgreens pharmacy store is seen in Deerfield, Ill., July 25,
2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
 “Pharmacies have a legal
responsibility to prescribe controlled substances in a safe and
professional manner, not dispense dangerous drugs just for profit,”
said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement. “This Department
of Justice is committed to ending the opioid crisis and holding bad
actors accountable for their failure to protect patients from
addiction.”
Walgreen has also entered into an agreement with the Drug
Enforcement Administration to improve its compliance with rules
around dispensing controlled substances, maintain policies and
procedures requiring pharmacists to confirm the validity of
controlled substance prescriptions, and maintain a system for
blocking prescriptions from prescribers that are producing
illegitimate prescriptions.
With the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Walgreen has
agreed to establish and maintain a compliance program that includes
training, board oversight, and periodic reporting to the agency
regarding the pharmacy's dispensing of controlled substances.
“In the midst of the opioid crisis that has plagued our nation, we
rely on pharmacies to prevent not facilitate the unlawful
distribution of these potentially harmful substances,” said Norbert
E. Vint, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management, in a statement.
The settlement resolves four cases brought by former Walgreens
employee whistleblowers. In 2022, CVS and Walgreens agreed to pay
more than $10 billion in a multi-state settlement of lawsuits
brought against them over the toll of the opioid crisis.
Over the past eight years, drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies
have agreed to more than $50 billion worth of settlements with
governments — with most of the money required to be used to fight
the opioid crisis.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
